Stargazer - I tend to write long, so when I do write short, it's usually like this, using characters already established elsewhere. I think the shortest story I've written with its own self-contained world and characters was around 6,000 words. And yeah, the VF has a bat'leth. I watched one of the blu ray features recently about when they were developing that weapon for the show, and they showed it to actual sword masters who were like, "Wow, no one's invented a whole new bladed weapon in, like, centuries, but this is solid."
Incidentally, the few things Lotus said about her father seem to prove the grandmother's initial judgment at fault--something she had the grace not to resent.
I caught that, too. It's such an awful thing already, but to be the grandmother in this situation and realize that the big argument that lost you your daughter happened because you were wrong would just be gut-wrenching.